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{D}

She dialed Mrs. Rosey through FaceTime and sat down widely smiling at her when her blonde hair made an appearance into her skin. “I’ve missed seeing you, Mrs. Rosey. How have you been?”

“You look tired, Jealilah.” Mrs. Rosey pointed out, and Jalilah smiled before she nodded her head.

“I have jeans underneath my abaya and my shirt, I can practice with them right? I’m not at home to wear my normal ballerina dress and shoes.” She smiled.

“You can do it with a skirt if that will make you comfortable, I can see you’re at work. Can I see your office?” Whenever she saw Mrs. Rosey, she felt a certain yearning for her Dad. She could when he brought her first laptop and he secretly called her to his room. His first words after she had unwrapped the laptop were, ‘I know your mother doesn’t want you to learn ballet, but I want you to be whatever you want to be, Jalilah. I’ve already enrolled you in Royal Ballet School, London. You’ll be learning from home, I’ll renovate your room so you can lock it up whenever you have classes, if you need anything, you can always run to me, Jalilah.’

She masked her emotions and stood up holding her MacBook, smiling while she swirled, showing the office to Mrs. Rosey. She kept smiling and praising until Jalilah was done and she smiled at her, moving away from her screen while she smiled at her, “Are you ready for our classes now, Jealilah?”

She placed the MacBook on the screen and pushed the sofa like she had imagined the office would look. She took off her abaya and wrapped her veil firmly on her hair, even though she was sure everyone had evacuated from the building, but she could never make the mistake of letting someone seeing her hair. She watched as Mrs. Rosey started moving while she explained to her.

“I know you’ve mastered the plier (to bend), ètendre (to stretch), reliever (to rising), glisser (to slide or glide), Sauter (to jump) too, but you haven’t mastered it like the rest. I think we will have to keep doing it until you master it, Jealilah. So now, just stare at me and see until I ask you to practice.” She nodded her head and watched, as Mrs. Rosey kept moving her body the way Jalilah wished one day she would do too. When Mrs. Rosey was done, she was asked to dance too, and Jalilah prayed she won’t fall whenever she came to the Sauter step like she had always done.

She turned the MacBook so she could see her and smiled before she began. She knew no one was there, just her and Mrs. Rosey staring at her through her screen, but she had never danced anywhere but her room. So she felt exposed, but she kept on moving, sliding while Mrs. Rosey smiled at her. She was doing a good job, she knew. She could hear the soft tune she had played on her phone, while she moved, smiling to herself too.

“Is it time to Sauter, Mrs. Rosey?” She asked while she glisser to the left, somewhere around the office door. But she didn’t mind, because she was so immersed in ballet that she felt she was setting her soul free of all that haunted it.

“Yes, do it like this. Let’s do it together and see, I’m sure you’ll perfect the art of it.” She nodded her head and smiled while she watched as Mrs. Rosey started moving her body, they kept doing until it was time to Sauter and they jumped together. Mrs. Rosey cheered when Jalilah did it right and they kept doing. Starting all over while they smiled at each other. She was the happiest when she danced. And Mrs. Rosey was one of the people she could call a friend.

They kept moving, starting all over and doing it to the Sauter step. She had even forgotten that she was still in her jeans and she was dancing ballet, the kind of dance that amused the eyes of its watchers. When they were done, Mrs. Rosey made her promise that she would practice more tonight before she slept and by tomorrow, she would improve so they could move to the next. She did, and they bade each other goodbye before she ended the call and sat down to collect her breath, while a wide grin graced her lips. Ballerina, the name she wished someday someone would call her with.

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